


Brave

by ByTheDawn



Series: 200challenge [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-12
Updated: 2014-02-12
Packaged: 2018-01-12 03:26:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ByTheDawn/pseuds/ByTheDawn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short work around the sentence prompt: "How did we end up here?".<br/>Emma confronts Regina on making Robin Sheriff, on letting him share Regina's bed, and challenges her to admit--finally--how they ended up here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brave

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://bythedawn.tumblr.com/post/76243227617/paring-swan-queen-sentence-how-did-we-end-up-here).

Emma checked her nose for blood, and was relieved to see her fingers come away clean. Regina wasn’t so lucky; panting in the suddenly deafening quiet of the Mayor’s mansion, Regina’s fingers came back stained from a lucky shot Emma had gotten in on those full lips that had now obviously been punctured by perfect teeth. Regina sucked the inside of her lip as hateful eyes settled on the blonde. Emma rolled hers emphatically.

“How did we end up here? Seriously, we need to stop doing this.” Emma vocalized. Regina huffed.

“Do what, Miss Swan?” She asked, and Emma felt her anger flare again; Regina knew damn well what she meant and Emma was done fighting her, it, for it—whatever.

“This, Regina! This! This one step forward, two punches back routine. Seriously, how did we end up here?!” Emma pushed. Regina averted her gaze.

“You know how we ended up here… Emma.” She said, and the defeat that mixed with Regina’s anger on her voice was enough to curb her anger for the moment.

“Then say it. Tell me how we ended up here, fighting again when…” She trailed off, realizing she did not have the guts for this discussion, nor the vocabulary. She also knew that putting it all on Regina was unfair, but she couldn’t stop herself. Emma had never really been brave; not when it came to this. Them.

It was silent a long moment as the two women refused to lock eyes—their eyes had always betrayed them, after all.

“When you came to Stroybrooke…” Regina started, and Emma’s head snapped up to stare at her. She was saying it… was she really going to say it? Her heart shot to her throat and panic overtook her. Did she really want Regina to say it?

“I saw it in your eyes… eventually. I knew that you were offering me… friendship. More, if I wanted it. I did, but I was angry, and scared, and I had created a house of cards that you were going to topple. I couldn’t… I couldn’t give in to you. And then you gave up; you saw the darkness, and you found your parents… and you gave up on me. Not on my redemption, perhaps, but you gave up hoping I could be more to you.” Regina took a shaky breath, and kept her eyes down as she resumed, voice soft, words pounding into Emma like sledgehammers.

“By the time I realized how—how in love with you I was. I am… you had to leave. The curse… Pan… the universe conspired against you and I, and I had to abide by its ruling. So I did. I resigned to never seeing Henry and you ever again. I give you my heart—every bit of love and light there was in it—every happy memory with Henry, all the qualities I wished you to have so you could make your life better. I gave you everything I had to give. I gave you Henry.” Now Regina did look up and met her eyes. The tears that threatened to fall from them made Emma want to rush forward and wrap her arms around the brunette, but her walls were up so high, Emma did not dare move. Regina might be professing her love for her, but she was as fragile as glass. Emma did not dare breath.

“When you came back… when you restored our memories… I felt so exposed. You knew everything about my life—about me. You knew how I felt… about Henry, about you. And you never said anything. You let me suffer alone, you drove me into the arms of a man I only felt drawn to because he reminded me vaguely of you. Then you came here, yelling at me because I gave him your former job as Sheriff, and because I let him share my bed—and it was all too much. I wish you understood the depth of my love for you, Emma, and that you could return it like you once wanted to, back when I was not brave enough to own my emotions. Until the day you do, however, you have no business telling me how I should or should not live my life. You had your chance and you wasted it. Robin, at least, has the guts to admit how he feels about me—” Emma rushed forward, then, unable to remain standing ten feet away when tears streamed down Regina’s cheeks, and every word out of the brunette’s mouth made her heart soar and shatter at the same time. She rushed forward and before Regina had time to process, Emma kissed her—firmly, with conviction, but gentle enough not to hurt her further. Regina gasped and froze, but she allowed the impact, even when Emma’s hand wound into her hair and the other around her waist.

“It’s not that simple…” Regina whispered darkly—pained—once Emma broke the kiss. Emma pressed her mouth against Regina’s again, and this time, she felt Regina’s mouth soften under hers.

“I know.” Emma replied, and stole a third kiss. Hands settled lightly on her hips, and Emma felt the tension within her break. Now, she was fighting her own tears.

“This doesn’t change anything.” Regina warned her, but there was doubt in her voice, and Emma kissed her again, and again, and again, and every time Regina melted into her more completely.

“I know.” Emma repeated, but she knew everything had already changed. This exchange between them changed everything. It opened the way for conversation, for contact, for love. It changed everything there had ever been between them. These were thoughts for a later time, however. Now, she simply kissed Regina again, and revelled in the way the older woman allowed her to. They would work it out—eventually. They would work it out without throwing punches like children, without shouting matches, without temper tantrums… or maybe with all of them… but they would work it out, because now they both knew how they had ended up here, and where they wanted the journey to end.


End file.
